By Brian O'Driscoll Ireland captain

I'm back and raring to go. It has been frustating with the rehabilitation and waiting around.

It promises to be a very tough game for us. Wales looked very impressive against Scotland and it will not be easy for us.

They looked as if they were back to their best which is a bit of a warning for the rest of us.

Wales have a great record at Lansdowne Road and we will have to be on our guard at all times come Sunday.

Before the World Cup they seemed to be in a bit of a rut, but they came back with a massive confidence boost having played particularly well throughout.

They have since brought that confidence through to the Six Nations and that will make us take very careful notice of just what they are capable of.

It going to be very exciting playing alongside Gordon D'Arcy. Gordon is a confidence player and he is brimming with that at the moment.

We might not have trained or played together in the centre before, but we are both footballers and capable of reading each other's game when and where required.

To get a good hit on him is very tough Brian O'Driscoll

In midfield, Gordon doesn't have as much time to think about what he is going to do so his natural ability takes over. His footwork is unbelievable and trying to defend against him is very difficult.

To get a good hit on him is very tough. Invariably, he breaks the first tackle even if he has very limited space and that creates holes for others as you saw in Tyrone Howe's try.

I thought he did extremely well against France, and made their defence work hard to close him down. D'Arce has shown this reason what he really can do and he has been the key player in Europe for Leinster this season.

He's a game breaker now, and I'm looking forward to playing alongside him. It could be quite exciting.

I'm captain again, but I thought Paul O'Connell was simply magnificent last week. You talk about leading by example. I only hope that I can follow him.